As the internal combustion engine developed, the need to maintain a clean supply of lubricating oil increased. Thus, filtering mechanisms were developed through which the recirculated engine oil lubricant was directed. The filter effectively sifted the lubricant, trapping the larger pieces of worn ferrous metallic particles, preventing them from constantly being recycled through the lubrication system and repeatedly wearing away at the friction surfaces inside the internal combustion engine. The majority of abrasion particles, however, were not trapped or sifted out of the lubricant because their size was much smaller than the filtering mechanism.
Today, the filtering mechanisms have evolved into disposable canister through which the oil is passed, and particles greater than 20 microns in size are trapped and collected. The present day canister filter is deficient in removing abrasive ferrous particles of less than 20 microns in size.
The internal combustion engine produces a substantial quantity of sub-micron sized ferrous particles through the normal wear characteristic which spans the life of the engine itself. A major part of the wear problem is the self-destructive nature of small ferrous abrasion particles being recycled continuously to the friction bearing surfaces by the engine's own lubricating system.
The removal of micron and sub-micron sized ferrous metal abrasive particles would greatly reduce engine wear and increase the useful life of the lubricating oil. The benefit to the user would be to reduce maintenance intervals and engine overhaul period cycles. The internal combustion engine utilizes several types of metal such as aluminum, copper, tin, lead, chromium and magnesium. These are the softer and very ductile/malleable metals and their wear rate is greatly increased because of the micron and sub-micron, harder and more abrasive ferrous metal wear particles they are exposed to. By elimination of the ferrous metal particles, the more ductile and softer metals will remain intact for a substantially long period of time. Thus by the removal of the highly abrasive ferrous metal components only from the lubrication system, the overall internal combustion engine life is greatly improved.